


young love (drive my car)

by coalitiongirl_ficlets (coalitiongirl)



Series: bugcedes [1]
Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: 4B, BugCedes, F/F, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-08
Updated: 2015-04-08
Packaged: 2018-03-21 19:51:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,533
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3703451
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/coalitiongirl/pseuds/coalitiongirl_ficlets
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“If our cars are in love, I think we should just let it happen,” Emma says reflectively, an arm flung across the back of the bench and Regina very careful not to lean against it. “Love is love, right? Maybe they’ll pop out a new bike for Henry.”</p>
            </blockquote>





	young love (drive my car)

**Author's Note:**

> Final fic of the batch! We haven't actually hit the episode yet, but a holdover from the Bug/Merc shipping from [set photos of 4.18](https://31.media.tumblr.com/1f2d91f2637ae3e4075f3e5153cd2458/tumblr_inline_nk5eaiCzNh1qbp9xe.jpg).

The first time it happens, Regina decides to let it go. She and Emma are trying this whole  _getting along_ thing, which Emma likes to call the  _friends_ thing and Regina hasn’t stopped her. Having her car towed just because it’s smack against the side of Regina’s would be a little too extreme for friends. Pity.

Instead, she calls the sheriff’s station and waits until Emma picks up. “I need you to boot the yellow Volkswagon Beetle parked out of stall in the parking lot.”

She can almost hear the smile on Emma’s face when she responds, and temporarily forgets that she can’t get into her car. Or to listen to what Emma’s saying before she hangs up.

Emma arrives a few minutes later with an exaggerated roll of the eyes and an aside- _Are you even driving anywhere?_ No, no she isn’t, but she’ll be damned if she comes back at the end of the day and can’t get home to her son because of Emma, thank you very much- but she moves her car over and gets an invite to the mayor’s office for lunch.

* * *

The next time, she’s parked outside of Granny’s when she emerges from the diner and sees Emma’s car parked bumper-to-bumper behind her, closing her in. “Maybe my car has a crush,” Emma suggests, winking at Henry. Her cheeks are flushed in the brisk early spring breeze and she’s standing close enough to Regina for their fingers to bump when they shift in place.

“Maybe you’re an atrocious parallel parker,” Regina retorts, her knuckles tingling as they brush against Emma’s hand. She crosses her arms instead.

“Oh, please. I’ve seen your ram-into-the-curb-and-hope-for-the-best parking.” Emma is smug. Smug Emma makes Regina simultaneously furious and…not, prone to notice things like how her lips curl up and her tongue slips out of her mouth for an instant.  _Ugh._

“I’ve been driving for longer almost as long as you’ve been alive!”

“You learned how to drive from a  _curse_.”

“You learned how to drive by breaking into cars and flirting with cops!”

“Shame you’re not a cop,” Emma says, leaning over her to peer into the car, and Regina’s momentarily so stymied by  _that_ that she doesn’t speak until Emma’s backing up and bumping into Rumple’s car behind her. Well. You can’t win them all.

* * *

She doesn’t expect Emma to be so bad at this even at Regina’s own  _house_ , but when she peers out the window it’s to see Emma shoving open her car door and banging it into Regina’s Mercedes. “Oh, like hell,” she grumbles, setting down her makeup bag (No, she hadn’t been retouching it just because Emma was dropping by. Since when is that a part of friendship.) and hurrying downstairs. “Emma! Emma Swan, if you’ve scratched my car–“

But Emma is still standing there, looking completely perplexed, the car door open and against the Mercedes. “I don’t know what’s going on,” she says. “I didn’t…I parked it at the other end of the driveway. I swear.”

“Fine. That’s it. Get in the car.”

Emma blinks at her. “Get in the car,” Regina repeats. “I’m going to teach you how to park your car without invading mine’s personal space.”

“Do you really know anything about  _not_  invading personal space?” Emma says dubiously, and Regina takes a step forward by instinct, close enough that Emma’s breath is warm against her cheek and her hands are moving up to catch Regina’s.

“Ah,” she says, flustered at her own impulse. Emma leans a little closer and Regina sucks in a short breath and takes a step back. “Better than you,” she’s able to say acerbically, and Emma flashes her an uncertain grin and gets into the driver’s seat.

* * *

And maybe it isn’t the driver at fault but the car, because Regina pronounces it a good fit before she exits the car, but by the time they’re ready to leave it, it’s flush against the Merc and Emma has to crawl out on Regina’s side to get out. Regina helps pull her up and out of the car so they’re almost dancing, stumbling together with their right hands locked and Emma’s left one moving to Regina’s waist for balance. “What the hell is going on?” Emma whispers, her hands still in place, and Regina has no answer for her.

* * *

She gets a call the next afternoon when she’s at the docks, sitting on a bench and watching Henry steering Leroy’s little dinghy with him. She’d opted out of spending time with Snow’s favorite dwarf to get some reading done, but the water is loud and there’s something about the wind and the energy here that reminds her of riding, caught in something so much more powerful than she is.

She can’t even be annoyed when it’s Emma on the line, sounding as though she’s trying not to laugh. “Uh. You don’t happen to be at the water, are you?”

“I am, actually.”

“Right. You kind of…you blocked me in!” she says, Emma Swan Smug again. “I’ve been following some complaints about the cannery all morning and I came back and your car was right up against mine. How’s that curse driver’s ed working out for you now?”

“Miss Swan,” she begins, and she could snap at her- that of course she hadn’t, it must be Emma’s mistake, and she would have noticed if the Bug had been right in front of her of  _course-_ but the wind is loud and the sky is bright and she’s packed more snacks than even Leroy can consume. “Why don’t you come join me?”

* * *

“If our cars are in love, I think we should just let it happen,” Emma says reflectively, an arm flung across the back of the bench and Regina very careful not to lean against it. “Love is love, right? Maybe they’ll pop out a new bike for Henry.”

“You’re an idiot.”

“Yeah.” Emma flashes her a dazzling smile, brighter than the sun overhead. “Seriously, though, something must be going on. We didn’t both suddenly become terrible drivers. Disney owns Pixar, right?”

“What does that have to do with…anthropomorphic cars.” Regina sighs deeply. “Emma, this town is not a corporate advertisement.”

“It’d be a good one if it were.” Emma puts on a voice. “‘Kids, we could go to Disney World this year, but what if we drove up to a little town in Maine and watched Snow White change some dirty diapers instead?’ We’re living the dream here.”

Regina laughs, and is as surprised at the sound of it as Emma is. Emma’s smile gets even brighter and Regina leans back at last, the other woman’s hand curling onto her shoulder.

* * *

Rumple’s eyebrows rise higher and higher as Regina explains their dilemma, Emma loitering at the front of the shop and their cars again parked bumper-to-bumper in front. They’d tried parking across the street from each other.

“It isn’t unheard of,” Rumple says at last. “There are some sorcerers strong enough- and emotive enough- that non-sentient familiars…develop. Magic brooms, magic houses…I’ve never seen magical _cars_ before, but it’s certainly possible.”

“So the Bug is now my familiar.” Emma wrinkles her nose. “Harry Potter got an  _owl._ ”

“Ron got a treacherous rat,” Regina counters, and smirks at Emma’s startled look. “I have a twelve-year-old son. I’ve seen Harry Potter. You could do worse than a car.”

“Okay, so can we…tell our cars…to stop fucking with us?”

“I’m afraid it isn’t that simple,” Rumple says, and now he’s looking positively smug. “You see, your familiar is only picking up your own unconscious thoughts and desires and acting them out as best as it can. If you want to get it under control, you’ll have to resolve your own unresolved tension there.”

“Unresolved tension,” Regina says slowly. Emma’s stopped fiddling with items on the shelf, watching her with what almost looks like a pained glance. “To…crash into Emma’s car?”

“Try again,” Rumple says, vanishing into the back of the shop. And Regina thinks again to the past few weeks, to  _maybe my car has a crush_ and Emma’s hands on hers and the way that Emma’s smile could stop time.

And Emma’s still watching her, eyes dark and unreadable, and Regina understands suddenly that the _thing_ she doesn’t talk about is the  _thing_ they both don’t talk about, that  _unresolved tension_ sounds about right. “If our cars are in love, I think we should just let it happen,” she echoes Emma from earlier, her voice uncertain.

Emma moves three steps across the room to take her into her arms and kiss her.

Regina kisses her back,  _wanted this for so long, this is real?, you too?_ and a dozen other emotions that come with it crashing over her. Emma smiles against her lips, hands gentle at her hips. “Hey. Look at that.”

Regina follows her gaze to peer outside. Their cars have returned to a comfortable distance from each other, but the headlights are on and the windshield wipers are slanted forward, waving at them in the wind. “Pixar made way more sense,” Emma says, shaking her head, and Regina laughs and laughs and laughs.


End file.
